'Change starts with us': Westfield student covering presidential election as reporter

Margaret Pfohl is getting the chance to cover an election as a reporter before she even gets to vote in one.

The Westfield School senior, who turns 18 in March, was selected for the Chase the Race program, which allows 12 high school students across the country to travel to events such as debates and conventions as campaign reporters.

Pfohl lives in Warner Robins and had previously only watched political programming with her father, Frank Pfohl, but her Chase the Race involvement changed all that.

"I'm really getting involved in politics," she said. "I'm watching Bill O'Reilly now ... voluntarily."

The reporting experience has already begun for Pfohl, who traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to shoot "vignettes" for Envision, an organization that specializes in experiential education. During the videos, Pfohl interviewed people including Bloomberg's Toluse Olorunnipa, who generally covers Washington's financial dealings.

"That's when we talked about money, media and debates," she said. "I took us four or five hours to film that video. It was about a three-minute video."

Those videos will be available for classrooms across the country, which will allow students to learn more about the election process. Pfohl said she was surprised to learn just how much cash funneled into campaigns and election events.

"It's just really opening my eyes to the whole political process."

Pfohl has brought that excitement for voting and getting invested in politics back to her classmates, and that can be valuable, said William Carroll, Westfield's head of schools.

Teachers can talk to their classes about civics and the importance of being informed, but fellow students can have a more powerful effect.

"Someone who's working with her peers to strengthen our democracy is an excellent thing," he said.

Carroll described Pfohl as an "outstanding student" but said Chase the Race work could boost her growth as an individual.

"It's a great opportunity for them to grow as people, to build on the maturation process," he said.

Thomas Craig, who taught Pfohl last semester, described her as one of the best students he's ever had in economics.

"You've got a student that is very energetic," Craig said. "Always asking questions; really she gets the business side."

The knowledge Pfohl is picking up during her Chase the Race experience is valuable, he said, and it only helps that she can share her wisdom with classmates.

"I think it's very important for kids to know ... how our government's working," Craig said. "To know what's going on in the world, that's very important."

Pfohl listed immigration, gun control and national debt as major issues she's picked up on during her work. Debt is particularly important because of her age, Pfohl said.

"National debt is a huge problem right now, especially for the young people of my generation," she said. "We are the ones who will have to pay off these trillions of dollars in debt, and in doing so, we may be facing a future of decreased opportunity."

She's also had the time to evaluate candidates, particularly those on the Republican side of the race. Pfohl has had mixed reactions to Donald Trump, but said he has an advantage in negotiating strength, for example, over competitors such as Marco Rubio.

"I feel Trump, he's good at negotiating and he knows how to get what he wants, so he could really help us in foreign policy, but he also kind of has trouble controlling his mouth, so I feel like he could also get us in trouble there," she said.

She'll get her biggest chance to hear more about those candidates and the issues at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, from July 18-21.

This time, she'll be working live instead of using prepared questions on a teleprompter, and that will be broadcast live at http://bit.ly/1ZB3M40.

Pfohl plans to attend the University of Georgia and pursue a career in medicine, but she said journalism is also an interesting field.

She encouraged all her peers to learn as much as they can before voting for the next president in November.

"Ultimately, we decide the future of this nation," Pfohl said. "Change starts with us."

To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitter@MTJTimm.

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 12:05 PM with the headline "'Change starts with us': Westfield student covering presidential election as reporter ."